


Ministering to the Wounded

by noo



Series: Comstock Kings [3]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Western, Community: jim_and_bones, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-06
Updated: 2010-07-06
Packaged: 2017-10-17 23:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noo/pseuds/noo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life out west can be a little bit hazardous, it might just be a good thing when your best friend happens to be a doctor...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ministering to the Wounded

“God Damn it, Jim,” Bones swore as he pulled his horse up in front of the pitched tents that the troop had erected around the camp fire. Men looked up at his and Mitchell’s arrival and the dust created at the sudden halt of their mounts. Lids were grabbed to hold over pots and protect the food that was cooking, while others close to them turned their heads away to protect their eyes.

Mitchell dismounted before him and grabbed the reins of his horse as well as his own while he indicated a tent, which obviously housed his Captain, with a jerk of his head.

Bones dismounted and grabbed the saddle bags that held his medical kit and stalked off towards the tent, knowing that Mitchell would cool down his horse for him after their hard ride from the Henderson ranch.

He pulled off his hat as he shook the dust from his head. His long hair flapped against his face and the dust from the trail fell around him. He knew he looked a right sight, but when you were out visiting the farther ranches and mining camps and doctoring where needed, then sartorial elegance was the first thing to go. He had allowed his hair to grow out and protect his head and neck lately as he had taken to spending more time on horseback and out ministering where needed instead of waiting for patients to come to him.

It had nothing to do with Jim’s fingers continually playing with his hair lately. Nothing at all to do with that.

He pulled the tent flap up and bent to enter it.

“Bones! What are you doing here?” Jim said as he tried to push himself up from the position he was in on the ground. From his movements Bones knew exactly which leg was injured. “I told Mitchell I was fine.”

“Jim, I’ve done told you that provoking those road agents was gonna come back and haunt you. I got pulled away from Mrs Henderson’s fine stew to rough it out here with you lot and find you laying back there taking it easy,” Bones started to grumble as he put his hat down next to Jim’s at the front of the tent and placed his saddlebags down on the other side. He knelt down next to them and started searching for all that he would need to deal with a gunshot wound.

“I’m not taking it easy!” Jim protested.

“Really?” Bones said as he raised one eyebrow at him.

“I got shot,” Jim admitted.

“Now, that I heard. Sit up a bit will ya and let me have a look at it,” Bones ordered as he collected his supplies in one hand and pulled down the lantern that was hanging from the overhead tent beam. He placed it on the floor of the tent near Jim’s leg that was lying flat out along his bedding.

Bones put down his supplies within reach and started to peel back Jim’s pant leg. He was routinely ignoring Jim as much as possible. Just concentrating on the matter at hand. Luckily it had already been seen to initially by Jim and Mitchell, when they first set up the camp, as Mitchell had informed Bones on the ride over. Jim’s boots were already off and set up in the corner. The only other option had been to cut Jim’s pants to get to the wound, not the best to be riding around with only half your pants on. Bones could see the blood that had stained the dark blue of the pants had dried off and there was a neat hole where the bullet had entered. As he pulled the material up he was able to feel the exit hole on the other side. A through and through was more of a blessing than most thought.

Jim hissed as Bones lifted up his leg to fully pull the material up and out of the way over his knee. There was a rough bandage around his calf and Bones could see the red seeping through. It wasn’t fully soaked so he hoped that the blood flow had been stymied. He ran his hand slowly down from Jim’s knee towards the bandage, soothing little motions as he went. Jim stilled under his ministrations.

“Whose shirt got used here?” Bones asked.

“Murphy had a spare one to hand, said it was his good shirt. Told Mitchell to find one of mine instead but they used Murphy’s,” Jim told him.

“If this is his good shirt, I’d hate to see the state of the one he is wearing now,” Bones said as he took in the well worn stains on the linen. “Your men sure don’t like the idea of regular washing now do they?”

“We’re soldiers, Bones, the niceties are often not found out in the middle of a battle,” Jim reminded him.

“Yet, you do like to get clean often,” Bones said as he started to unwind the makeshift bandage.

“When I know I have you to wash my back,” Jim said.

Bones looked up towards Jim. “Hush you fool, lest others hear,” Bones hissed at him under his breath.

“Fine,” Jim pouted at him and Bones turned back to finish unwrapping the bandage and revealing the red wound to his eyes. “I do like your hands on me,” Jim whispered quietly.

“What else did you do to it before wrapping it up?” Bones asked, pointedly ignoring Jim’s words.

“Mitchell cleaned it out before wrapping it up. Just like you taught me to do,” Jim hissed as Bones pressed carefully around the wound.

A small amount of blood was oozing slowly out from each side, but it looked to be a nice clean through and through.

“What did he use?” Bones asked as he reached for the small bottle of iodine and a little cloth from his pile of supplies.

“Put some of his prized whiskey on it. I do think the man likes me, Bones,” Jim said.

Bones looked up in shock at Jim. “Not that damned rotgut of his? Damn it, Jim. God knows what is in that stuff. I suspect he’s more worried about doing you in putting that stuff anywhere near your personage,” Bones started to grumble as he tipped a generous amount of Iodine onto the cloth and pressed it to the wound.

“Bones!” Jim hissed as the sting of the Iodine permeated the wound.

“Don’t be such a child. A little sting never hurt anyone and if you knew half the stuff those damn moonshiners put into that rotgut you would be begging me to empty this damn bottle on the wound instead,” Bones said as he held onto Jim’s leg, thumb rubbing the skin soothingly as he held him in place and moved the cloth to press to the exit wound.

Jim wisely held his tongue, not even a sarcastic, ‘yes doctor’ passed his lips which was the normal response to one of Bones’ lectures. His silence so eloquently speaking that it hurt more than he was letting on.

Bones finished observing the wounds and was happy with its progress. It was red and looking slightly inflamed but he would check it again in the morning and make sure their trip back to Virginia City was slow enough for his liking, Jim’s opinion be damned. He reached over and grabbed the clean bandage and re-wrapped up the wound. Tight but not too much so that Jim could still move his toes.

Bones held his tongue as he pulled Jim’s pants back down and over the bandage and then down to his socks. He started to gather up his supplies, ignoring Jim as he did so.

Jim reached out a hand to grab onto his wrist and still his movements.

“Thanks, Bones,” he said quietly.

Bones looked down at the fair hand that was wrapped around his jacket sleeve. He could feel the heat from Jim’s hand through the worsted of his jacket and the linen of his shirt. He knew every callus on that hand and was well imagining the feel of those hands on his bare skin.

“You didn’t have to come, but thanks anyway,” Jim continued to say.

“You stupid man,” Bones glared at him. “I’ll always come and you well know that. If you didn’t put yourself in these stupid situations I wouldn’t have to come out and keep fixin’ ya up!”

Jim tugged on his arm to pull him closer and pushed himself up with the other arm so that he was now sitting upright. He grabbed hold of Bones’ jacket to make sure he couldn’t get away.

“It’s my job, Bones, you know that. I’m as careful as I can be with me and my men,” Jim said as he stared into Bones’ eyes.

“Jim, don’t, anyone can see,” Bones said quietly to stop Jim leaning in any closer.

“Everyone knows you often check my head, Bones to see if there is a brain inside,” Jim smirked at him.

Bones pushed gently on his chest to force him to lie back down. “I think most of the town is amazed that I am able to find one each time,” Bones shook his head at him. “Now stay put,” he ordered.

“Fine,” Jim agreed, “but only if you agree to stay and keep me company?”

Bones sighed and then nodded his agreement. He packed away his supplies back into his saddle bags and pulled out his small flask of whiskey and tossed it towards Jim, who smiled broadly to see it. Jim easily caught it and raising the flask at Bones in a toast of thanks, opened it up and took a sip.

“Now that ain’t Mitchell’s rotgut,” Jim said as he smacked his lips.

“Don’t drink it all, you young fool. Leave some for me,” Bones said as he stood up as best he could in the confines of the tent, before turning and lifting up the flap and heading back outside where Mitchell was hovering nearby.

He headed straight in his direction to report to him the state of the Captain.

“Thanks Doc,” Mitchell said as he clapped him on the arm. “We’re all well glad you were nearby. Don’t know what we would do if we lost the Captain.”

“You did a good job on it, just next time, don’t use that damn rotgut of yours to clean it out. Water would be a better option than that swill,” Bones said as he looked around at the campsite and tried to find a spot where he could lay out his bedroll. The men were already starting to bunk in for the night.

Mitchell obviously noticed his perusal and commented that he had already brought his roll off his horse. Sure enough leaning up against a log was the aforementioned bedroll.

“I’ll just find a place to lay it out somewhere,” Bones said as he continued to look around.

“Mitchell, bring it in here,” Jim yelled out from his tent.

“Damn it, Jim!” Bones responded.

Mitchell just laughed, well used to their sniping at each other.

“Sure, Captain,” Mitchell said as he walked over to pick up the bed roll and head towards Jim’s tent.

“Now wait a cotton picking minute!” Bones said as he stalked along in Mitchell’s wake.

“Oh, hush, Bones. Stop your yammering,” Jim said as Bones stood outside his tent with his hands on his hips while Mitchell rolled out his bedroll next to Jim’s. “There’s plenty of room in here,” Jim explained.

Bones just pursed his lips and glared at Jim, who was laughing at him still.

Mitchell backed out of the tent and turned to speak quietly to Bones.

“The men will rest easy knowing you are in there with the Captain. You can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t do nothing he shouldn’t. God knows I wouldn’t be able to stop him if he got it into his mind to get up, but you just might,” Mitchell explained.

Bones sighed and nodded. It was true that none of the men could stop Jim once he got a dang fool idea in his head and he wouldn’t put it past him to do something stupid if he thought there might be a benefit in it.

“Night, Doc, Captain,” Mitchell said as he walked away from the tent and back towards the fire and the handful of men left around it.

“Come on, Bones, get in here,” Jim said as he patted Bones’ bed roll.

Bones entered the tent again and sat down on his bed roll and started to pull off his boots. He put them next to Jim’s in the corner and then pulled off his jacket and laid that neatly down at his side before starting to slip under the covers.

Jim’s hand stopped him.

“With me?” He asked.

“The men,” Bones responded.

“With me,” Jim repeated, making it an order this time. “Please,” he then added.

“Shadows; they can see,” Bones explained as he started to slip further under his own covers again.

Jim’s response was to sit up and reach for the lamp, which he then promptly extinguished. “Not anymore,” he said as he lay back down carefully and reached for Bones.

“What am I going to do with you, you impetuous fool?” Bones asked rhetorically as he adjusted his covers and Jim’s so that they could both fit under them together.

Jim lifted up his hand to rub the side of Bones’ face as he looked up at him in the dark of the evening and the little bit of light that the campfire offered. He ran his hand into Bones’ hair, tangling it gently in the dark locks. “I like your hair like this, makes you look younger,” Jim murmured before leaning up and kissing Bones.

“You are a damn fool,” Bones said around kisses, remembering to keep his voice low.

Bones snuggled in closer to Jim, taking care not to get too close to his injured leg.

“What if they come in the morning to wake us up,” Bones said as he pulled away from Jim after a series of nibbling kisses and licks.

“Murphy bashes the pan in the morning, they don’t come into my tent unless invited, we are safe Bones,” Jim said. “Now come back here, cause I have sorely missed you. You have infected me with something and all I thought of when we were high tailing it away from the ambush was you telling me off. You’ve done the telling off, like any wife worth her salt woulda done, now I want the comfort that should be mine,” Jim said as he tugged on Bones’ hair to get him to move his lips back and closer so that he could kiss them again.

“I’m the wife?” Bones asked. “Who is the one on top here?” He said as he gently pushed Jim onto his back so that he could lie half on him and push their hips together.

“Bones,” Jim breathed before he surged up to meet his lips and attack them.

“We. Are. Both. Gonna. Have. Blue. Balls,” Bones said around kisses.

“Don’t care, want you to kiss me. Now shut up and do it,” Jim ordered.

“Yes, my captain,” Bones said as he acquiesced to the order.

The kisses started out as strong and passionate, with nips and licks and extending from lips to rough stubble, ears and the tender flesh of their necks. Jim’s hands were never still, moving from Bones’ hair and down his back and side, tugging at Bones’ shirt to try and get at the flesh beneath and frustrated to realize that there was more clothing in his way.

Bones swallowed Jim’s moan of frustration, hoping that the others around them would thinking it was Jim aggravating his wound.

“Jim,” he said soothingly as he rubbed his hand through Jim’s hair. “Sleep.”

Jim pulled away to blink up at him before the fog of lust slowly allowed him to think clearly and he nodded. “I will with you here,” he said as he tucked his head into Bones’ chest.

Bones dropped a kiss to his forehead and pulled him in tighter, closing his own eyes and willing his mind to not think about the day that may come where he wasn’t around to protect and heal Jim.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Title:** [ Ministering to the Wounded](http://noo.dreamwidth.org/72493.html)  
>  **Series:** [Comstock Kings](http://nikki4noo.livejournal.com/tag/series:%20comstock%20kings)  
>  **Beta:** Many thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/selinamoonfire/profile)[**selinamoonfire**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/selinamoonfire/) for the quick look over (and the enabling)  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Word Count:** 2,734  
>  **Pairings/Characters:** Kirk/McCoy and Mitchell  
>  **Warnings:** H/C if you want to consider that a warning.  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine, dammit!  
>  **Summary:** Life out west can be a little bit hazardous, it might just be a good thing when your best friend happens to be a doctor...
> 
>  **A/N:** This fic does sit within the Comstock Kings series but can be read as a stand alone. All you need to know in that respect is that this is a Western AU with an established relationship. Jim is a Calvary Officer with the US Army and Bones is a highly respected doctor in Virginia City, Nevada, one of the richest cities in the US at the time. This was also inspired by a photo in the weekly inspiration post over at [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/jim_and_bones/profile)[**jim_and_bones**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/jim_and_bones/) community which had some boys snuggling in a tent.


End file.
